Property blog: When the big thaw causes big problems

What a good start to a new year - I've had to deal with floods, burst pipes and no fuel for the winter writes property blogger Lea Beven.

Happy New Year to you all. In my last blog before Christmas, I warned you of the perils of freezing pipes and gave you some tips and tricks on how to protect your property over winter.

Well it appears that quite a lot of people weren't able to do so and suffered major pipe bursts - including myself in my own shop.

We had five separate bursts over two rooms - from pipes that were in between wall cavities.

Luckily for us, one of our plumbing team was on hand to get us back up and running within a few hours.

Even if the weather looks like it may be on the up, don't let that deceive you because it will get bad again and you don't want a repeat of any problems.

As well as burst pipes over winter, there have been oil delivery issues and, in the house share I currently reside in, we ordered ours on December 6th, ran out on Christmas Eve and didn't receive a refill until the 27th.

But at least we got it before the VAT increase - which is going to affect everyone in the world of property, be it the landlord or the tenant.

Most agents will have to put up their fees and the cost of refurbishing properties will go up as shops as material costs go up and, of course, labour costs will increase too.

It will no doubt have an effect - I have already felt the squeeze just buying some wallpaper.

We'll have to wait and see over the next few weeks to see how much it impacts the property world.